Every morning at 6:30am, I have a session with a bunch of youth, discussing morality & the principles that govern happiness in life

I’m Mr. Mum, so I then get my kids ready for school and I usually take them on my way to:

University on Tuesday and Wednesday

To some appointment or catching up with a customer or supplier

I meet the kids after school

One afternoon a week, we hit a movie or go somewhere fun

One evening a week I take them to a youth activity

2 afternoons a week and Saturday, we go grocery shopping – fresh fruit and veg is not fresh in Darwin, it’s about 2 days off rotten by the time it makes it to the supermarket shelf, so we only buy a couple of days worth at a time.

As a full-time student, I also need to study and prepare assignments

CDU all day Tuesday & Wednesday

Business Colllege & Training Monday evenings and Thursdays

Mondays some courses related to my studies – e.g. First aid this Monday and next.

As a full-time dad and Mr. Mum I need to make sure my kids are being looked after properly.

We go to church on Sunday afternoons.

Are we running out of days of the week yet?

I have also been putting together a travel and tourism related business.

I have to keep the house livable, I have to mow the lawn and maintain the garden.

I have to ensure the vehicles are being maintained.

I have to prepare 2 of them for sale, and then sell them.

The Honey-do list goes on, and I am the only one.

I can’t do it all alone, so I also have to train my kids in household duties so that they can relieve some of the burden.

And now I am looking for work because my wife, who was working to support the family, has decided it’s all too hard, and has opted to not come home from a holiday in Japan. Notified me be email, divorce papers attached.

Top that and I’ll believe you are Superman, Superwoman or The Flash.

So, how do I fit all that into my week? Priorities!

Many time management systems teach an ABC123 system. Count that up. How many categories are there? SIX!!! How am I supposed to categorise my life into 6 categories. That is TOO MANY categories! I can’t do it. Life is confusing enough without 6 categories of it to manage.

I find this system more effective

Urgent

Not Urgent

Important

IU. This is the Important and Urgent Quadrant
These are the things that must be done today and must be done by you.
You cannot delegate.

Daily tasks that only you can do

Crisis Management – It has happened and needs dealing with.

INU. This is the Importand but not Urgent Quadrant
These things need doing. There is time to get them done. You cannot delegate the entire project, but you may be able to delegate part of it. Delegate what you can and Bite off little every day.

Long term projects

Daily tasks that don’t matter if they wait till tomorrow

Do not procrastinate or they will move to the IU quadrant and be labeled crisis management.

Not Important

UNI. This is the urgent but not important Quadrant.
It needs to be done today, but you don’t have to do it.DELEGATE

The daily tasks that someone else can do

but they need doing today

NINU. This is the Not Important and Not Urgent Quadrant
You have to ask – Why is this even on my list? These are often the time wasters.
We get caught up in them because they may be interesting, but they are not essential to the running of the business or the day.

DELEGATE or DUMP, but get them off your list.

If they come back to bite you, then you misallocated them the first time.

Does adverse weather have an effect on your income level? Does anything else threaten your precious income and/or life style?

As you are well aware, the weather plays a big role in the turn-over of businesses and the income of many trades people, farmers, commission sales people etc. Lots of rain can mean lower income because you simply can’t finish the job, or you can’t get out to see the clients. Right? For others, not enough rain, or too much can kill off thousands of head of livestock in a season. Not enough, or too much of either can also ruin crops or prevent you from getting to work. A fuel crisis could bring the city, state or nation to a stand-still.

Sickness and injury, unemployment and redundancy can also send you down the gurgler just as quickly. Income protection insurance can cost you more than you can afford, and may pay you less than you need to survive.

What if there were a way to weather-proof your income, so the money just keeps flowing despite the circumstances you may find yourself in, and regardless of whether you can work, or not? It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, or what the reason may be that you can’t work. This works for all business models, workers, farms etc.

How?Leave your details in the window below or call 0447 736 007. We’ll set a time with you to run through a few details over a coffee or whatever beverage you feel like. It doesn’t matter where you are. If you are not local to the areas mentioned, we can do a web conference so that you can see the details for yourself.

Regardless of the industry you are in, or whatever your job may be, we all know there are threats to our income, which could cause a multitude of follow-on consequences if your income were to slow down, or stop due to something beyond your control.

If you don’t contact us, you’ll never know how easy it is to permanently protect your income with perpetual cash flow. So go on! fill in the box below! or call me on 0447 736 007. We can meet you at your favourite coffee spot and have a chat or come to your home or place of business. This works anywhere in Australia, as well as over-seas, so if we can’t travel to meet up, we can do a web conference.

Is your web site like a billboard, which attracts Internet traffic?

I know I said the next monthly newsletter would be about email marketing, but following some conversations I have had recently with potential clients, I feel a little more on effective marketing to be in order before we progress to the email marketing.

We have all seen billboards. They are in every country in the world. They are on every highway and by-way. Billboards that slap you in the face with one offer or another. They are usually prominently and strategically placed, so that when you come over a rise, or round a bend, there it is, right in your line of vision. You can’t miss them!

The unfortunate thing is, a large number of of web sites out there are not like billboards. Even though that’s essentially what they are. They are virtual advertising space that costs you rental and maintenance every month, but they do not follow the basic rules of getting seen.

Let’s just discuss two of those rules in this article.

1. Make your message clear and concise. Don’t be ambiguous in your web site content.

Is your web site like a billboard obscured by a tree?

Have you ever seen a billboard obscured by a tree? I have, but I can’t remember where it was, or I would go and take a photo of it, and paste it here, instead of this graphic I just drew up.

The last thing you want is for your web site to look like this example.

Even though it is there, traffic is passing it every day, and it’s being seen, nobody can read it. The message it is carrying is unclear and very easily misunderstood, because there is stuff in front of it.

If this was a real billboard, I am certain the message being displayed is not what the owner intended to be seen by the passing motorists.

Some things that may detract from your web site are:

Advertising other people’s stuff on your site eg. google adsense. In some cases it is appropriate, mostly not.

Content that has nothing to do with your offer. One page, one article or item.

2. Once you have a web site, you need to actively market it, or it will become like a billboard out of sight.

Is your web site like a billboard out of sight. Nobody even suspects it exists, never mind seeing it.

Have you ever seen a billboard hidden behind a hill, where nobody can see it? Of course not! Why? Because nobody would pay for it in the first place, and nobody would ever see it.

So why, why, why… would you ever pay web site design fees, and monthly hosting fees, and never market your web site?

An un-marketed web site is like a billboard out of sight. Nobody ever sees it, or even suspects it exists.

The “build it & they will come ” mentality may work in a Hollywood baseball movie, but it won’t work on a web site. Unless you market your web site regularly, nobody will ever see it. Nobody will even know it exists.

I spoke with a woman just this morning. Her web site was obscure, ranked at over 13 millionth spot on the Alexa scale, and not appearing in Google searches.

She was offended that I was attempting to market to her, because she is a marketer herself. She stated that she had it under control and someone was taking care of all that for her. I disagreed, and rightly so. End of conversation. No point talking to a closed mind.

Somebody may be assigned to do the work, but they are far from taking care of it. She was so obviously over-confident in her abilities as a marketer, that she forgot that she needs to learn new skills in order to stay on top of marketing. I will not be recommending her to any of my clients… lol

Your web site should be like a billboard, where all traffic travelling the information super highway in your target market area sees it.

So, there you have it. Clear and concise content and web site marketing are the keys to getting your web site seen, like the billboard in this example. It is there, it can be seen, and it can be read easily.

Your web site should be a virtual billboard on the information super highway, where all traffic travelling in your target market area can see it, and can read its message easily.

Those are the keys to consequently building an email list, which is where the real money lies, and what I will deal with in the next issue.

As always, any questions, feel free to ask.

Vol 100901: This Issue: SEO vs. SEM

If you own a web site, you’ve probably heard the terms SEO or Search Engine Optimisation and SEM or Search Engine Marketing. Today, we’ll talk a little about those.

What is the difference between SEO and SEM?

The following diagram will show some of the differences and similarities.

Diagram 1

SEO will get you listed in the pink shaded area. SEM will get you into the blue shaded areas. This domain was registered on July 29, 2010. So less than 1 month to reach top spot for the chosen keywords

SEO is getting your generic listing to the top of the search engines through means of popularity rating. ie. A lot of people like your site, so they log to it frequently.

SEM is paying to have your site listed at the top, at least until its generic popularity grows enough to keep it there.

There are just two paid listings in the above examples. They are listed in the right side column. If there are a larger number of listings, then the first few would appear in the blue shaded area at the top of the generic listings.

Which is more important? SEO or SEM?

A well formatted SEM campaign will lead to a good generic search engine ranking, and it probably won’t take that long to achieve.

If you get your site seen by a lot of people, using the SEM method to attract that traffic, then you will automatically grow a good search engine ranking with your generic listing.

The whole idea of search engines is to get your web site at least on the front page of the search engine, and preferably in the top few listings for your nominated search terms.

Web site popularity is what will get it to the top of the generic search engines. The more people who visit your site, the higher up the rankings your web site will climb and the faster it will get there. One of the fastest ways to get it there (SEO) is by marketing it (SEM), ie. getting it seen by a lot of visitors.

This can be achieved by selecting a few keywords, probably no more than a half a dozen or so, which you are prepared to bid on, to be seen at the top of the search listings for those keywords, and you only pay for clicks, not displays (PPC).

eg. in Diagrams 1 & 2, Gary at Pink Waterlily Health Centre at Palmwoods has previously bid on the terms “anxiety” and “depression” using SEM. The generic web site listing now appears at the top of the search results for those terms in his selected target area of Palmwoods in the Sushine Coast hinterland.

Gary only needs to bid on those terms again if his ranking starts to slip. He can now spend his budget on building his ranking for some other search terms.

So, SEM will get more visitors, but what about sales?

That all depends on a lot of factors including product or service type & quality. The ability of your reader audience to pay for your products etc. However, sales conversions from first time visitors is a pretty rare result to achieve, like way less than 1%. It usually takes several visits before people feel confident enough to take out their credit card and hand it to you.

You’ll also need more than just SEO & SEM to be effective in your web marketing efforts. There are several more key ingredients to effective web marketing.

Web marketing is all about relationship marketing. You market yourself harder than you market your products & services in order to achieve the best results.

The Internet is more on direct response, relationship marketing. ie. each individual must act on an invitation that is addressed to them personally, and/or on a need they have for which they are looking for a solution & the results are measurable.

Mick Popp

Next Issue we’ll talk about email marketing campaigns.

As always, call & ask any questions you may have

Managed Campaigns – We’ll run your campaigns for you

What is Web Marketing?

Because most people have no idea what it all means, I will attempt to give an overview of the process involved in web marketing. Be aware, it is time consuming and unless done well, will prove to be a waste of both time and financial resources. That’s why doing it yourself will cost you a lot of time, and will probably only produce limited results unless you study and learn the techniques well. I am not going to try to make this sound more complicated than it is. As a matter of fact, I am going to try to simplify the explanation to make it easier to understand. If you have a lot of spare time during your work days, it’s probably OK to do as much as you can for yourself. However, most small business people don’t have much of that.

There are 3 basic elements to web marketing.

1. Getting your web site seen is your first step. If nobody sees it, then nobody is going to know about you and what you do. Getting it seen is accomplished through several different media:

Search Engine Marketing – The fastest way of getting your site seen by people who don’t know of your business, but are looking for something that you offer. This includes things like PPC and other paid methods of getting your ad seen so that people click and land on your site.

Search Engine Optimisation – Same result as search engine marketing, but it takes months and sometimes even years to get to the top without investing some money and a lot of time on search engine marketing, and the other methods which will get your web site seen. Basically, if you do all the other things right, this one will take care of itself provided your web site is set up with the right elements.

Social Networking – Using social networking to build your contacts list is essential to a big mailing list. The biggest mistake most people make with social networking is that they use it like a classified ad site or bulletin board. Social networking is all about relationship marketing.

Search Engine Submission – getting your site listed in as many locations as possible within your target area

There are a number of software packages you can use to get some of those steps done and make it less labour intensive.

2. Capturing the visitors details for follow-up email campaigns. You have paid good money to get those visitors to your web site. The absolute last thing you want to do is let them leave without volunteering their contact details for you to load into your auto responder for later follow-up marketing. Visitors will rarely by from you on their first visit. It will usually take a minimum of seven visits, and often more for that to happen. You don’t want to have to pay for them to come back every time, so you have a mechanism on your site which encourages them to volunteer their contact email so that you can send them offers.

3. A Well Formatted Follow-up Marketing Campaign. You’ll need an auto-responder with a good deliver-ability reputation, that allows you to send multiple emails per month. You’ll need a series of follow-up emails sequenced into the auto-responder, which sends out to all eligible recipients (those on your list who have not opted out of your list) on your list, in the order that you have pre-set and at the intervals which you have pre-set into the campaign. All this takes time to set it up, but once it is done, the only thing left for you to do is post the occasional special offer to your list. Good auto-responders don’t come cheap. Cheap auto-responders don’t come good.

How do I know that? I used to run an in-house responder for the members of a networking business I owned. I was getting what I thought was a good delivery rate. One day I tried a responder form another supplier as a test. I doubled the number of emails that actually made it to the inbox, and I tripled the number of people who opened their emails. Then I heard of yet another supplier who claimed 99% deliver-ability to the inbox. I trialed it with the same list and immediately re-doubled the number of emails that got opened again. Meaning that 8 times as many people were receiving the information I was sending using my in-house responder. I immediately stopped promoting the in-house responder, and referred all my customers to the one I had found. To rephrase the words of a famous oil ad from many years ago… Auto-responders ain’t auto-responders Sol!

A Graphic Example of SEO & SEM

SEO vs. SEM

In the above example, search engine optimisation will place you in the pink area. Pink Waterlily Health Centre has placed first in this example for the search terms anxiety, depression, and Palmwoods. Pink Waterlily is a Web World Marketing customer.

There are 2 paid listings in this example, both of them appearing in the right hand column. They are examples of SEM – Search Engine Marketing. They have paid to have their listings appear there for those search terms.

For more information on how you can raise your web profile using Web Marketing strategies, please complete the form to the right & we’ll call you, or

Call us on mobile 045 007 9558

or Skype: mickpopp

Pink Waterlily is a Web World Marketing customer.
Topping the list for their chosen search terms

Before commencing down the track of DIY-SEO, you had better read up on SEO so that you understand what’s involved so that you can do it properly yourself, what I call DIPY-SEO. This is a zipped file. If you need software extract the file, Here’s a free one.

All Auto responders are NOT created equal. iContact provides better than 99% deliverability to the in-box of your subscribers. That rate leaves he others for dead! If you want your customers to actually receive your emails, then you need iContact. Nothing else will do!

That should keep you hopping and give you enough to study up on for the next year or so. You see, we have been doing this since 2002. It has taken a lot of learning and tweaking to get our system working right. If you want to do your own, then just be prepared for an intense learning curve and to spend a lot of money and time getting yourself up to scratch.

Most business owners are lacking in at least one of those areas. They either don’t have the time because they are so busy making money, or they don’t have the money because their business is suffering while they do the things they should be paying someone else to do. You’re a business owner, not a key puncher. Your business depends on you having the right tools to do what you do best. Sometimes, those tools are other people.

If you have employees, then you have issues with wages and salaries, employee insurances, superannuation, sick leave, compo and whatever else. If you outsource to Web World Marketing, you only have our fees plus your advertising costs, which you already have anyway.

Doesn’t it make sense to outsource what you don’t have to do in-house?